Good morning, beloved,
I sit in the quiet of the morning, thankful for another day. The morning seems a bit gray and tired but I am longing His word in my heart today. His love to come alive in me today…To be thankful.
As I have mentioned before, I have followed Ann Voskamp’s blog and book and I found on her website a freebie that I wanted to share with you. Yes, it’s the middle of the month, but I don’t mind, do you? Won’t you join me in counting your thanks? As you enter His courts this weekend why don’t you bring your journal with your thanks written? Then your praise can be a reflection of your gratitude and I wonder what kind of worship that might be for you, for me.
http://www.aholyexperience.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/AprilJoyDare.pdf
Well, let’s jump back where we were yesterday.
4Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and a thank offering and into His courts with praise! Be thankful and say so to Him, bless and affectionately praise His name!
Pause, my friends, and gaze on this verse. Thanksgiving, thank, offering, praise, thankful, bless, affectionately…selah. (Pause and calmly think about that!)
Thanksgiving: towdah: confession, praise, thanksgiving..this word means so much, doesn’t it? Come into His gates. Come into His gates, confessing your sins, cleansing your hearts, finding His grace and renewal and then praise His name and give Him the thanks due His name. What a beautiful, beautiful worship experience we can have when we understand “towdah”! I’m sure I’m only scratching the surface here, friends…
Praise: tĕhillah: praise, song or hymn of praise, praise, adoration, thanksgiving (paid to God), act of general or public praise, praise (demanded by qualities or deeds or attributes of God)…the root of this Hebrew word is halal: to shine, to flash forth God’s light. Please don’t miss parts of these definitions. To worship is to adore Him, to thank Him, and see that? an act of general or public praise yet add to that the root word that we are to shine forth God’s light…
One candle, not so much light, three candles, a cascade of light, shining forth to praise Him…which is demanded by His qualities, His deeds and His attributes.
Give thanks: yadah: to give thanks,, laud, praise, to confess, confess (the name of God)
Do you know what is coming across to me stronger than anything else? Confession. Cleansing. Being in a right relationship with the Lord when in worship before the Lord. And if I wasn’t looking at these words in earnest, I would never have seen this fleshed out in such a way. Are you seeing this?
So if you print out this thankful journal, and begin to write what you are thankful for and bring it to your worship this weekend, great! yet, I believe I need to take notice of not starting my worship EVER without confessing He is Lord, confessing my sin before Him and being clean in His eyes. Then present my thankful journal…Ahem.
Bless His Name: barak: to bless, kneel When was the last time you knelt in worship before the Lord? Seriously? We stand before the Lord. Yet here in this Psalm, this is a directive. To bless…to kneel. I don’t know how to take that out of context here. To kneel. It’s a very humble place, isn’t it? Yet, what a beautiful posture before the Lord. It says so much to Him.
Okay, well, you know what I need to say now…Pray on. Pray on…I’ll pick up again tomorrow with verse five. 🙂
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